myofibril

/myo·fi·bril/ (-fi´bril) muscle fibril; one of the slender threads of a muscle fiber, composed of numerous myofilaments. myofi´brillar

myofibril

(mī′ə-fī′brəl, -fĭb′rəl)

n.

Any of the threadlike fibrils that make up the contractile part of a striated muscle fiber and are made up chiefly of actin and myosin filaments.

myofibril

[-fī′bril]

Etymology: Gk, mys + L, fibrilla, small fiber

a slender striated strand within skeletal and cardiac muscle fibers and composed of bundles of myofilaments. Myofibrils occur in groups of branching threads running parallel to the cellular long axis of the fiber.

Molecular structure of a myofibril

myofibril

A bundle of contractile fibres within muscle cells.

my·o·fi·bril

(mī'ō-fī'bril)

One of the fine longitudinal fibrils occurring in a skeletal or cardiac muscle fiber and consisting of many regularly overlapped ultramicroscopic thick and thin myofilaments.

[myo- + Mod. L. fibrilla, fibril]

myofibril

a microscopic contractile filament of STRIATED MUSCLE, made up of a series of SARCOMERES. The myofibril is made up of numerous longitudinal filaments of two forms, thick (MYOSIN) and thin (ACTIN). See MUSCLE, I-BAND. Relatively little is known of the contraction of smooth muscle, where contractile elements’ are thought to contain both actin and myosin.

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